The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Barberry plant, botanically known as Berberis thunbergii and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Redtorch’.
The new Barberry plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Allassac, France. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new erect Barberry plants with attractive foliage.
The new Barberry plant originated from an open-pollination in 2002 of an unnamed selection of Barberry thunbergii, not patented, as the female, or seed parent and an unknown selection of Barberry thunbergii as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Barberry plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor in 2003 as a single plant within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled environment in Allassac, France.
Asexual reproduction of the new Barberry plant by softwood cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Beaufort-en-Vallée, France since the Jun. 1, 2004 has shown that the unique features of this new Barberry plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.